ARTICLES

The Little Orphans of Annecy

In September four year old Zeena al-Hilli and her sister Zainab, aged seven, lost their parents and grandmother when they were murdered in a brutal attack in the French Alps. Three months later, detectives are still searching for the killer – and the motive. With unprecedented access to family and friends David James Smith pieces together new evidence.

More on my previously unsubstantiated claim that the writer-director Peter Kosminsky, creator of The Promise, is working on a drama about Nelson Mandela. I’ve now learnt that the project is a feature film, in development with Film 4, about the young Mandela. Kosminsky is currently at work on the script and, given the complaints about the anti-Jewish bias of The Promise, it is unlikely to be a standard bland portrait of the former South African president.

Latest Review

New York Times – J. M. Ledgard

Nelson Mandela was circumcised as a 16-year-old boy alongside a flowing river in the Eastern Cape. The ceremony was similar to those of other Bantu peoples. An elder moved through the line making ring-like cuts, and foreskins fell away. The boys could not so much as blink; it was a rite of passage that took you beyond pain. read full review